The Isle of Man licensed bookmaker specialises in Asian Handicap betting. 188BET also brands itself as an in-play betting specialist, and offers an average of 3,000 live in-play bets every month from over 400 markets.

You will then be faced with a simple three-page registration form to fill in on the website during which you must fill in all the categories otherwise you will not be able to progress. Frustratingly the site itself doesn’t clearly let you know where there is an issue if there is information omitted, it just refuses to let you progress without any indication of what the problem is.

Fortunately, there is a Live Chat option easily available to anyone who has any problems.

The first page asks customers for the basic information, such as country of residence, name, nationality and date of birth.

For those customers based out of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, make sure you use United Kingdom as Country of Residence, rather than England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland or it will not accept your registration.

The second page asks for address details, email address and a mobile contact number. You can use the Postal Code address finder to automatically populate the address fields if you wish. Just enter your postal code into the box and click on “Find Address”. The site should then provide you with a drop down box from which you can select your address. Once you find your address, click on it to automatically fill in the fields.

Note that if some of the fields remain unfilled, you may have to fill them in manually to progress to the next page.

The third page is where you create your 188BET account. It will ask you to select a username.

Some good advice on choosing a username is available on the Wikihow site. It advises: “Avoid using any personally identifiable information when creating your username. This includes your first or last name or your birthdate.

“Use a variation of your name that is easy for you to remember but difficult for others to associate with your name. Use your seldom-spoken middle name, for example, and spell it backwards.”

If someone else is already using the username you have selected, the website will tell you that the username is unavailable and you will be required to choose a different one. Once you’ve chosen a name that both you and 188BET are happy with, you will then have to create a password.

Passwords need to be between 6-15 characters and consist of letters and numbers. One technique for a strong password, according to Boston University, is this: “One way to do this is to pick a phrase you will remember, pick all the first or last letters from each word and then substitute some letters with numbers and symbols.

“If you are selecting a password for a website, you may want to incorporate the first few letters of the website name into your password so that every password is different and if one gets out, you don’t have to change them all.”

You will be asked to enter your new password twice to make sure that you have not made any mistakes when typing in your intended password.

For further security the site will then ask you to choose one of ten pre-set security questions. Select one that you think is the most secure and don’t forget to type in the answer in the box along the bottom.

Choose your preferred currency and click on next when you are happy.

The site will then provide you with a summary of the information that you have provided to make sure that it is accurate and you are happy with it.

When you scroll to the bottom of the page you are given the opportunity to read 188bet’s Responsible Gaming procedures and the Terms & Conditions. Click on the box that says “Send me updates or offers by email” if you are happy to receive these and tick the box asking whether you are over 18.

Finally you are asked to copy the code from the CAPTCHA box. If you are unable to read the code you can generate an alternative code by clicking the circular arrow next to the code.

Once you have completed the whole form, click on “Sign up with 188BET”. The whole process should not take more than 5 minutes.

You then have a range of options for making your first deposit. It is this first deposit that will be eligible for the matched 188Bet bonus up to £50.

They now have an email address exclusively for you in case you have enquiries. Write to support-en@188bet.co.uk for a faster resolution to your enquiries!

188BET offers a wide range of betting options, including all of the major sports leagues, many lower level leagues across more obscure sports, particularly for Football, and entertainment events.

188BET has split their home page navigation into three main sections for betting: SPORTS, RACING and ESPORTS.

188Bet's desire to be recognised as an in-play specialist means they provide a great range of daily live, in-play markets across almost all leagues, including those that are lesser known to some punters. You'll also be able to follow the bets you place with live scores and match statistics.

We've been through the site and listed below all of the sports they have to offer:

Football

Basketball

Tennis

Baseball

eSports

Horse Racing

American Football

Badminton

Beach Soccer

Boxing/Fighting

Cricket

Futsal

Golf

Handball

Ice Hockey

Motor Racing

Rugby

Snooker/Pool

Track & Field

Volleyball

Inside a specific match on the right hand side, you will see the 'Live Centre', which includes a timeline of key match incidents (cards, goals etc.) and a pitch screen showing live match updates.

They also have markets for the following:

Financial Bets

Lottery

Special Events

At the time of writing, an example of the Special Events betting available on 188Bet comes with the Eurovision Song Contest markets.

188Bet offers all the markets you would expect from a bookmaker, including 1x2, over/under, correct score, both teams to score and half/time full time.

For example on Football bets, they split their pre match markets into Popular, All Markets, Handicaps & Over/Under, Goals, 1st Half, Corners, 15 Minutes, Specials and Other Markets.

In a competitive industry, with more and more betting markets available, it is hard for bookmakers to stand out with unique betting markets. However, 188Bet continues to build upon their live betting offering and specialise in Asian Handicap betting.

188bet sign up

188Bet sign up explained

1

Visit 188bet.com and click on the 'Sign Up' button that is located in the upper right corner

Horse racing, e-sports and american sports

Horse racing

188BET has two main sections for Racing, UK & Irish Racing and International Racing.

The section has been built to capture the interest of the user by showing you the next 3 races available for betting on 188Bet, and odds for the 3 race favourites in each.

You can then click on ‘View All’ to expand and see the full card, with key info such as horse name, trainer, jockey, form, weight, age and previous race odds.

Beyond today’s bets, 188Bet also has a surprisingly comprehensive antepost section for future races, with the site’s create a coupon feature allowing users to build up a nice betting slip for the biggest races on the calendar.

E-sports

eSports is a growing phenomenon in the sports betting industry, and 188Bet have acted quickly to make it a key part of their site offering. You can bet on the biggest games such as League of Legends, Dota 2 and Heroes of the Storm.

188Bet also offers previews and analysis around the biggest eSports tournaments to help guide your bet. You can bet on up to 20 pre event markets, with select markets such as match winner and handicap, available for in-play betting.

American sports

188Bet covers all of the top four American sports: American Football, Basketball, Baseball and Ice Hockey. For each of them, you have a comprehensive range of outright and match specific markets.

Live Betting

Betting around shorter time intervals continues to be the most popular with players, and 188Bet have recognised this by giving in-play betting the prime position on their main sports page.

188BET brands itself as an in-play betting specialists, and offers an average of 3,000 live in-play bets every month from over 400 markets.

In-play football markets will take priority, with matches ranging from the biggest leagues to some of the lesser known leagues across the world.

On the left side in-play navigation, you will see the number of live matches currently available for betting on 188Bet.

The mid page will then give you an overview of these matches, with key market odds and a clickable number of total markets for you to check out.

Unfortunately,188Bet has no cash out or live streaming features at this stage

188bet Website and mobile

188Bet Website

188BET's opening layout is pretty sleek with a professional feel and stylish design. It is also fairly standard with its top navigation, and left side sports breakdown.

As in-play specialists, you'll see a big focus on promotions for upcoming in-play events on the main sports page, as well as a tools menu and easy to navigate match statistics. The clear number of in-play markets per event is also a useful guide.

All of the sports options are easily at your disposal, and you can personalise your betting experience with the 'add to my competitions' feature and a star icon which prioritises your chosen markets.

The only confusing aspect to the layout comes when you choose your competition within a certain sport. For example, if you choose Premier League under 'All Matches' you are then asked to use a strange 'Submit' button to open the match list, which doesn't always load the entire list.

On the plus side, the statistics for each match are clearly highlighted and you see an icon which tells you whether the match will include live data when it goes in-play.

The bet slip is pretty straight forward, with the option to use pre-defined stake amounts with one click or enter your own. The potential winnings from your single or multi bet shows as the amount of profit you would make, not including your returned stake.

188Bet Mobile

The 188Bet mobile site comes with a straightforward design, particularly for navigating between in-play and matches ‘starting soon’ for players with time constraints. Generally if you are playing on mobile, you are looking for easy bet placement.

As with the desktop site, the in-play matches take centre stage on the landing page. Navigation from sports to specific competitions or leagues is actually simpler on the mobile, with less clicks and a more seamless user journey.

There is also an important focus on content marketing, with articles categorised as ‘All’, ‘Sports’, ‘Racing’ and ‘Poker’ to help guide your bet. You can also divide the articles by publish month.

This is an important part of their strategy to keep players on-site for longer and create a greater trust. For example, if someone doesn’t place a bet but reads an article or two on 188Bet, they are more likely to get that customer back on the site, giving them another chance at conversion.

Customer Service

188BET has all the normal help options you would expect, including the popular live chat and phone support.

They are keen to stress that they now have an email address exclusively for player enquiries (support-en@188bet.co.uk), which has been introduced to ensure faster resolutions.

The contact number for the Euro region is +44 20 3608 4015, and for Asia +852 5808 3608.

We have tested the live chat feature and this has a quick response time, particularly during off peak times.

For existing customers, you just have to confirm your username, email and question to start the chat. If you are not registered, you will also need to provide your full name.

The live chat and help buttons are always accessible on the right side of the page which is a welcome addition; sometimes bookmakers can hide these features away from the home page on separate contact or help pages.

Visibility

188Bet has a decent presence on social media, particularly on Facebook, where they have almost 40,000 page likes.

The YouTube channel, which was started in May 2009, has over 2,100 subscribers, with total video views of more than 2,500,000.

On Twitter 188Bet will need sustained growth to match some of the industry's biggest bookmakers. They currently have around 8,000 followers, which is some way off the 300,000 users that follow bet365.

188bet promotions

Most of the 188Bet campaigns and customer bonuses centre around welcome offers and first deposit boosts on sports and casino. However, from time to time they do offer promotions for existing users, highlighted by their Acca Boost during April 2016.

Those who placed accumulators, including 5 or more selections on selected leagues, could gain an incremental bonus of 25% on top of the payout. And, anyone who missed out by one selection, got their stake refunded as a 188Bet Free Bet.

These 188Bet promotions do carry certain terms and conditions, for example this one had minimum accumulator odds of 1.70 and the free bet was subject to a one time rollover requirement within 30 days, with the same 1.70 minimum odds.

188Bet also uses social media to communicate time limited offers throughout the week, particularly with price boosts around 188Bet horse racing events and high profile football matches.

About

Bet-at-home is an online betting operator which began life in Wels, Austria in 1999. It was founded by Jochen Dickinger and Franz Ömer and by 2004 it was listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and turned into a joint stock corporation. There was an even bigger change in 2009 with the company joining the BetClic Everest SAS Group, a French group focused on sports betting and online gambling which also includes Expekt.

The bet-at-home.com full product suite is available in 15 languages, the operator boasts over 4.3 million customers worldwide and has offices in Germany, Austria, Malta and Gibraltar with the main HQ in Dusseldorf. It acquired an Italian igaming and sports betting licence in 2011, an Irish one in 2015 and became licensed by the British Gambling Commission in 2014.

There’s a bet-at-home bonus for new customers which sees sign ups rewarded with a decent if not fantastic 50% deposit bonus.

188Bet: Racing specials each day

Terms & Conditions

188BET will match the initial deposit up to a maximum of £50, however there are considerable terms and conditions to fulfil in order to qualify.

Players need to wager 5 times the initial deposit before they become eligible for the 188Bet sign up bonus. For example, if a player signs up with an initial deposit of £20, they would have to make bets worth £100 before qualifying for the free £20 bet. If the initial deposit was £50, then players will have to stake £250 to be eligible for the bonus.

Players also need to make a minimum of 5 bets before they qualify for the 188Bet bonus. These bets need to be made on separate events and are required to be settled for them to count towards the bonus terms.

If the bets are placed on 1x2 and Money Line markets then they are required to have minimum odds of 1.75 or above.

Bets do not qualify if they are placed on Racing. They also do not qualify on gaming products such as Casino, Live Casino or Poker.

To count towards the rollover figure, bets need to be placed on Sports.

Do not make deposits via Skrill or Neteller as they are excluded from this promotion.

Once the staking requirements have been met, players then have to activate the bonus. They can do this by selecting the “Up to £50 Bonus” option on the drop down box of the 188BET promotions page.

Be warned, once activated the 188Bet bonus needs to be used within a month. After 30 days the 188Bet Free Bet will expire and be removed from the player account.

Why SmartBets?

SmartBets is the odds comparison site that gives you relevant real-time odds and stats. Whether you are an experienced punter, or a fan who wants to add excitement to the game, you can improve your betting with a personalised punter profil. Sign up today to get 50+ markets across 35 leading bookmakers and get access to the DIRECT BET feature.

Disclaimer : SmartBets has no affiliation with the sports teams displayed on site. We claim no credit for any associated images posted on the site unless otherwise noted. Images are copyright to their respective owners.